UC-NRLF 


B    3    3bM     lafi 


Itt  P^tllMlf 


^"^""'^-i  {■>/ J.uun  RFM^yScn^-  Pf"'" 


/^^^22_<:^l,.^,^^^ 


IN  LOVING  MEMORY 


A  REVERED  FATHER 


A  SAINTED  MOTHER. 

'uhivbrsity; 


<^ 


h^ 


jrs'^j-^ 


WmiilAJVr   SEARIGHT. 


n^IIP]  wonderful  Scotch -Irish  race,  in  its  career 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  has  been  fitly 
compared  to  the  Gulf  Stream  in  its  course  through 
the  regions  of  the  ocean.  To  trace  the  making  of 
the  Scotch -Irishman  we  must  go  back  to  the  cen- 
turies before  the  Christian  era,  during  one  of  which 
a  branch  of  the  Gallic  or  Celtic  race  from  the  wild 
interior  of  Asia,  settled  in  Asia  Minor,  which  it 
named  Gallatia.  This  restless  Gallic  people  soon 
left  Asia,  and  passed  through  Italy,  Spain  and 
Southern  France,  to  which  it  gave  the  name  of 
Gaul,  and  settled  in  Great  Britain,  where  it  became 
the  Celtic  race  of  the  British  Isles.  The  branches 
that  settled  in  Ireland  and  Scotland  soon  came  to 
be  known  as  Scots.  In  430  the  famous  St.  Patrick, 
a  Scotsman  of  patrician  birth,  made  Ireland  the 
field  of  his  wonderful  religious  labors,  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty  years  later  St.  Columba,  an 
Irishman  of  Scot  blood,  and  of  the  royal  lineage  of 
the  house  of  Ulster,  founded  in  the  Scottish  island 
of  lona,  on  the  ruins  of  an  old  Druid  college,  the 
college  of  Icolmkill,  which  shed  its  rays  of  light 


all  over  Europe  during  the  darkness  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Three  centuries  after  the  founding  of  this 
great  college  came  the  occupation  of  the  seed  bed 
of  the  Scotch -Irish  race,  which  lies  in  the  water- 
girt  region  embracing  the  southern  part  of  the 
lowlands  of  Scotland,  then  known  as  Stathclyde ; 
and  the  river-encircled  plain  of  northern  England, 
which  at  that  time  bore  the  name  of  ^N'orthumbria. 
Into  this  peculiar  region  came  the  Palriadaian  Scot 
from  the  north  of  Ireland  in  large  numbers  to 
absorb  its  few  Celtic  inhabitants  who  were  descen- 
dants of  the  ancient  Britons  of  King  Arthur's 
days.  The  boldest  of  the  Vikings  and  Sea  Kings 
sailed  up  the  rivers  of  this  land  and  left  many  of 
their  bravest  followers  to  become  a  part  of  a  new 
forming  race  by  infusing  into  it  the  best  blood  of 
the  Norseman,  the  Dane  and  the  Saxon.  This 
Brito-Scot  and  Anglo -N'orman  fusion  formed  a 
people  known  as  the  Lowland  Scot,  who,  from  1047 
to  1605,  were  passing  through  a  fixing  period  in 
which  they  assumed  a  new  character  under  the 
preaching  of  John  Knox,  and  made  their  name 
famous  all  through  Europe  as  the  fighting  grand- 
sons of  the  "  old  raiders  of  the  North."  In  1605 
the  Lowland  Scot  was  ready  for  transplanting  by 
the  Divine  Husbandman,  and  on  April  16,  1605, 
the  English  court  signed  the  charter  to  colonize 
Ulster  or  the  Korth   of   Ireland   with   the   Bible- 


reading  Lowland  Scot  and  the  choicest  blood  of 
England.  The  Lowland  Scot  stock  in  Ulster  was 
modified  by  the  choicest  elements  of  the  Puritan, 
the  Huguenot  and  Hollander,  and  thus  became  the 
Ulsterman,  noted  for  thrift,  prudence  and  pros- 
perity. He  made  a  war-worn  desert  a  fertile  land, 
and  then  finding  himself  persecuted  by  the  govern- 
ment, he  changed  from  the  contented  colonist  to 
the  exasperated  Scotch -Irish  emigrant.  By  perse- 
cution the  Ulsterman  w^as  made  ready  for  his  mis- 
sion in  the  new  w^orld,  where,  settling  on  the 
western  frontier  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies,  he  be- 
came the  Scotch -Irishman  of  history,  so  named 
from  the  dominating  strain  of  his  blood  and  the 
land  from  which  he  had  come.  He  protected  the 
settlement  from  the  Indians;  he  bore  an  important 
part  in  the  revolutionary  struggle  for  Independence, 
and  he  was  mainly. instrumental  in  winning  all  of 
the  territory  of  the  United  States  north  of  the 
Ohio  and  west  of  the  Mississippi  river.  The 
Scotch -Irish  is  a  grand  race,  whose  great  charac- 
teristics are :  Independence,  education,  and  Scrip- 
tural faith.  The  Scotch -Irish  have  always  borne 
a  prominent  and  distinguished  part  in  the  progress 
of  the  Union,  from  its  establishment  down  to  the 
present  time,  and  being  the  "first  to  start  and  the 
last  to  quit,"  can  proudly  say  "  my  past  is  my 
pledge  to  the  future.' 


Of  this  great  race  came  William  Searight,  the 
subject  of  the  first  of  these  two  memoirs. 

William  Searight,  of  Menallen  township,  the 
founder  of  the  Fayette  county  family  of  Searights, 
w^as  born  near  Carlisle,  Cumberland  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, December  5,  1791.  He  was  of  Scotch- 
Irish  descent  on  both  paternal  and  maternal  sides. 
His  family  came  from  Scotland,  and  had  for  its 
crest  a  hand  holding  a  thunderbolt,  while  its  motto 
was  Deum  Timefe.  His  paternal  grandfather,  Wil- 
liam Seaw right,  came  from  near  Londonderry,  in 
County  Donegal,  in  the  ISTorth  of  Ireland,  about 
the  year  1740,  settled  in  Lampiter  township,  Lan- 
caster county,  Pennsylvania,  and  was,  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  1771,  a  prominent  citizen  and  land- 
holder of  that  county.  His  paternal  grandmother, 
Anne  Hamilton,  came  from  Belfast,  Ireland,  at  the 
same  time,  and  settled  in  about  the  same  locality 
near  Lancaster  city,  Pennsylvania.  She  came  to 
America  with  her  brothers  William  and  Hugh,  and 
a  sister  Mary.  Her  brother  William  w^as  the  grand- 
father of  the  distinguished  governor  of  South  Caro- 
lina in  Calhoun's  day,  who  was  known  as  the  ITulli- 
fier  Governor,  in  consequence  of  his  having  advo- 
cated the  nullification  of  certain  tarifip  laws  passed 
by  Congress,  which  he  considered  adverse  to  the 
interests  of  the  people  of  the  South.  A  pretty  full 
though  incomplete  lii story  of  the  Hamilton  fstmil}" 


of  Lancaster  county,  this  State,  can  be  seen  in 
Egles'  Pennsylvania  Genealo^^ies  and  in  "Notes 
and  Queries,"  by  Colonel  Evans,  of  Columbia. 
The  ancestors  of  the  Lancaster  county  Hamilton 
family,  of  which,  as  stated,  the  grandmother  of 
the  subject  of  this  memorial  was  a  member,  went 
from  Scotland  to  Belfast,  Ireland,  when  it  became 
the  refuge  for  persecuted  Covenanters.  They  were 
a  part  of  the  historical  Scotch  family  of  Ilamiltons, 
one  of  whom  was  chosen  as  the  husband  of  Queen 
Mary,  and  another  as  the  husband  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. Family  tradition  and  family  history  also 
teach  that  Alexander  Hamilton  of  revolutionary 
fame  was  connected  with  this  same  Lancaster 
county  family  of  Hamilton s. 

The  names  of  the  children  of  William  Sea- 
wright  and  Anne  Hamilton  were  Mary,  Esther, 
Anne,  William  (the  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
first  memorial),  and  Alexander.  (See  deed  book 
W.  W.,  page  134,  Lancaster  county  records.) 

Mary,  the  eldest  of  the  children,  married  John 
Glenn.  The  Glenns  are  extinct,  and  mostly  sleep 
in  Cumberland  county,  Pennsylvania. 

Esther  married  Gilbert  Seawright,  and  did 
not  change  her  name.  Gilbert  Seawright  was 
the  founder  of  the  large  family  of  Seawrights  in 
and  around  Carlisle,  Cumberland  county,  this 
State. 


Anne  married  William  Woods  and  removed 
from  Lancaster  county  to  Albemarle  county,  Vir- 
ginia, where  they  died.  They  had  two  children : 
Alexander  and  Seawright,  who  were  born  in  Lan- 
caster county,  this  State.  These  children  settled 
in  Fayette  county,  Kentucky,  and  afterward  re- 
moved to  Illinois,  where  Alexander  died  in  Jo  Da- 
viess county,  and  Seawright  passed  away  in  Greene 
county. 

Alexander  married  a  Logan,  and  removed  to 
Augusta  county,  Virginia.  They  had  three  chil- 
dren :  William,  Alexander,  and  Margaret,  who  re- 
moved with  their  families  from  Augusta  county, 
Virginia,  to  Henry  county,  Tennessee,  in  about  the 
year  1826,  where  some  of  their  descendants  are 
now  living. 

William  married  Jean  Ramsey,  a  daughter  of 
Samuel  and  Catherine  Ramsey  ( nee  Seawright). 

The  maternal  great-grandfather  of  William 
Searight  came  from  Donegal,  Ireland,  about  1740, 
and  settled  in  Leacock  township,  near  Lancaster 
city,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  lived  and  died.  His 
name  was  also  William  Seawright.  He  was  for 
many  years  a  landholder  and  prominent  citizen  of 
Lancaster  county,  this  State.  In  the  Revolution  of 
1688,  the  ancestors  of  William  Seawright  threw 
themselves  into  the  cause  of  William  of  Orange. 
Some  of  them  were  driven  within  the  walls  of  Lon- 


donderry  when  its  gates  were  closed  against  James 
the  Second,  some  afterwards  died  in  tlie  besieged 
city,  while  others  of  them  survived  the  siege.  The 
maternal  great-grandmother  of  the  subject  of  this 
first  memorial  was  also  a  resident  of  the  North  of 
Ireland.  Her  maiden  name  was  Catherine  Jackson. 
William  Seawright  and  Catherine  Jackson  had  but 
one  child,  Catherine.  Catherine  Seawright  married 
Samuel  Ramsey,  of  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania, 
who  afterwards  became  a  wealthy  and  prominent 
citizen  of  Cumberland  county,  this  State.  He  owned 
the  famous  "Letort  Springs"  tract  near  Carlisle, 
where  he  lived  and  died.  They  were  the  parents 
of  the  mother  of  the  subject  of  this  first  memorial. 
The  names  of  the  children  of  Samuel  and  Cath- 
erine (Seawright)  Ramsey  were:  Jean,  Catherine, 
Margaret,  Esther,  Elizabeth,  Samuel,  Archibald 
and  Seawright.  Jean  married  William  Seawright. 
Catherine,  Margaret,  Esther  and  Elizabeth  died 
unmarried.  Samuel  married  a  Gettysburg  lady  and 
had  no  children.  Archibald  married  Margaret 
Dean,  some  of  whose  grandchildren  are  now- resi- 
dents of  New  Bloomfield,  Perry  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania. Seawright  Ramsey  married  a  Denny,  a 
member  of  the  Pittsburgh  family  of  Dennys,  and  a 
sister  of  the  wife  of  the  late  Dr.  Murray,  of  Carlisle, 
this  State.  All  of  this  family  except  Jean  and  Samuel 
sleep  in  the  old  graveyard  at  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania. 


Samuel  is  interred  in  Huntingdon  county,  this  State, 
and  Jean  in  the  Ligonier  valley.  After  the  death 
of  his  wife  Catherine,  Samuel  Ramsey  married  the 
widow  Macfeely,  grandmother  of  General  Robert 
Macfeeley,  commissary  general,United  States  Army, 
of  Washington,  District  of  Columbia. 

In  about  1780  the  parents  of  William  Searight 
removed  from  Lancaster  to  Cumberland  county, 
Pennsylvania,  and  from  there  to  Augusta  county, 
Virginia.  They  remained  in  Virginia  about  eight 
years,  when  they  returned  to  Cumberland  county. 
There  they  remained  for  a  short  time,  when  they 
started  for  the  western  part  of  the  State,  stopping 
a  short  time  in  Huntingdon  and  Indiana  counties, 
and  finally  made  their  permanent  settlement  in  the 
Ligonier  valley,  Westmoreland  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, about  -B.Ye  miles  above  Ligonier,  on  the 
Loyalhanna  river. 

The  names  of  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  Wil- 
liam Searight  were:  Samuel,  Alexander,  Mary, 
John,  Hamilton  and  Archibald.  After  1810  Sam- 
uel settled  in  Tippecanoe  county,  Indiana.  Alexan- 
der first  settled  in  Brooke  county,  Virginia,  and 
afterwards  removed  to  Morgan  county,  Ohio,  and 
William,  the  subject  of  this  first  memorial, settled  in 
Fayette  county,  Pennsylvania.  The  other  members 
of  the  family  remained  in  the  Ligonier  valley,  and 
died   without  issue,  and  their  remains  lie   beside 


their  parents  in  "Pleasant  Grove"  graveyard,  about 
five  miles  from  the  town  of  Ligonier. 

William  Searight  received  only  a  plain  English 
education,  but  he  was  endowed  with  the  precepts 
of  stern  integrity,  industry,  sobriety,  and  lionor,  the 
elements  of  his  future  success  in  business,  and  of  his 
elevated  character.  In  the  neighl)orhood  in  which 
he  was  reared,  he  had  learned  the  business  of  fuller 
and  dyer  of  cloth,  a  knowledge  of  which,  with  his 
energy,  sobriety  and  honor,  was  his  entire  stock  in 
hand.  He  arrived  in  Fayette  county  at  about  the  age 
of  twentj^-one,  and  commenced  business  at  an  old 
fulling-mill  on  Dunlap's  creek,  known  as  Ham- 
mond's mill.  He  afterwards  prosecuted  his  voca- 
tion at  Cooke's  mill,  on  Redstone  creek  at  the 
mouth  of  Dunlap's  creek,  and  also  on  the  old 
George  Washington  farm,  near  Perryopolis.  He 
next  purchased  a  farm  and  hotel  at  Searights, 
the  property  and  village  deriving  its  name  fron\ 
him,  and  there  made  his  permanent  settlement. 
On  March  26, 1826,  he  married  Rachel  Browniield, 
a  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  Brownfield, 
of  Uniontown,  Pennsylvania. 

Rachel  Brownfield  (wife  of  William  Searight) 
was  of  English  Quaker  lineage.  Her  parents  were 
natives  of  Frederick  county,  Virginia.  Her  mem- 
orial, which  follows,  will  contain  an  account  of  her 
ancestry. 

11 


At  the  village  of  Searights,  William  Seariglit 
laid  the  foundation  of  a  large  fortune.  His  integ- 
rity, united  to  a  generous  and  benevolent  heart, 
gave  him  a  high  place  in  the  esteem  and  afiections 
of  the  community  in  which  he  lived.  His  sound 
judgment  soon  impressed  itself  on  his  own  county 
and  he  became  one  of  her  most  influential  and 
useful  citizens.  He  was  a  prominent  and  zealous 
old-time  Democratic  politician,  and  w^ielded  a  wide 
influence.  On  one  occasion  he  rode  on  horseback 
from  Searights  to  Harrlsburgh,  a  distance  of  over 
two  hundred  miles,  to  assist  in  the  preparation  to 
nominate  General  Jackson  for  the  presidency.  He 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  the  late  Simon  Cameron, 
ex-United  States  senator  from  Pennsylvania,  and 
had  close  political  relations  with  the  leading  poli- 
ticians of  his  day. 

In  the  early  history  of  Fayette  county,  political 
conventions  of  both  parties  were  accustomed  to 
meet  at  Searights  and  plan  campaigns.  A  memor- 
able meeting,  of  which  Mr.  Searight  was  the  chief 
promoter,  was  held  there  in  1828,  known  as  the 
"  Gray  Meeting,"  from  the  name  of  the  keeper  at 
that  time  of  the  local  hotel,  John  Gray.  At  this 
meeting  the  Jackson  and  Adams  men  met  to  test 
their  strength.  They  turned  out  in  the  meadow 
below  the  hotel,  formed  in  rank  and  counted  ofi^'; 
the   Jackson    men    outnumbered    their  opponents 

13 


decisively,  and  it  was  regarded  as  a  great  Jackson 
victory. 

In  the  political  campaign  of  1856  a  large  demo- 
cratic meeting  was  held  at  Uniontown,  and  the 
delegation  from  Searights  hore  a  banner  with  the 
inscription  "Menallen  the  battle  ground  of  the 
Gray  Meeting."  Many  politicians  of  the  olden 
time  were  at  the  Gray  Meeting,  among  them  on 
the  Jackson  side  were  General  Henry  W.  Beeson, 
Colonel  Ben  Brownfield,  Westley  Frost,  William 
F.  Coplan,  Henry  J.  Rigden,  James  C.  Beckley, 
Benedict  Kimber,  Solomon  G.  Krepps,  William 
Searight,  Hugh  Keys,  William  Hatfield,  Colonel 
William  L.  Miller,  John  Fuller,  Provance  McCor- 
mick,  William  Davidson,  Alexander  Johnson  and 
Thomas  Duncan.  On  the  Adams  side  were  An- 
drew Stewart,  John  M.  Austin,  F.  H.  Oliphant, 
John  Kennedy,  John  Dawson,  William  P.  Wells, 
Samuel  Evans,  James  Bowman,  Stokely  Connell, 
William  Hogg,  Basil  Brownfield,  George  Mason, 
Kennedy  Duncan  and  John  Lyon. 

The  many  similar  political  meetings  with  which 
William  Searight  was  identified,  go  to  show  the 
esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  citizens  of  the 
county  by  all  parties.  But  Fayette  county,  although 
the  first,  was  but  little  in  advance  of  other  counties 
to  learn  and  admire  his  worth.  He  early  became 
known  and  appreciated  throughout  the  entire  State. 

14 


He  was  appointed  commissioner  of  the  Cumberland 
road  (N^ational  road)  by  Governor  Porter  in  the 
most  palmy  days  of  that  great  thoroughfare,  a  posi- 
tion he  held  for  many  years.  In  1845  he  was 
superseded  by  Colonel  AVilliam  IIo|)kins,  of  Wash- 
ington, Pennsylvania.  Subsequently  an  act  of  the 
legislature  placed  the  road  in  the  hands  of  trustees, 
appointed  by  the  courts,  and  these  trustees  restored 
William  Searight  to  the  commissionership,  the 
duties  of  which  office  he  continued  to  discharge 
with  great  fidelity  and  industry.  He  was  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  all  the  hills  and  valleys  of 
that  grand  old  road,  once  so  stirring  and  active, 
but  now  still  and  grass-grown.  Previous  to  his 
appointment  as  commissioner  of  the  National  road 
he  was  a  contractor  on  the  same.  He  was  one 
of  the  contractors  who  built  the  iron  bridge  over 
the  mouth  of  Dunlap's  creek,  between  Bridge- 
port and  Brownsville,  and  was  also  a  contractor  on 
the  Erie  extension  of  the  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio 
canal. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  the  candidate 
of  the  Democratic  party  for  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant offices  in  the  State,  that  of  canal  commis- 
sioner. To  this  office  he  would  have  undoubtedly 
been  elected,  had  not  death  interposed  and  called 
him  from  the  active  duties  of  this  life  to  the  reali- 
ties of  another  world,  as  after  his  death    Colonel 


15 


William  Hopkins,  of  Washington  county,  was  nom- 
inated by  the  Democratic  party  for  the  same  office, 
and  was  elected  by  a  large  majority.  He  died  at 
his  residence  in  Menallen  tow^nship,  on  the  12th 
day  of  August,  1852.  He  left  a  widow  and  six  chil- 
dren :  Thomas  B.,  Ewing  B.,  Jean,  Captain  William, 
James  A.,  and  Elizabeth.  His  widow,  whose  mem- 
orial follows  his  own  in  this  volume,  died  at  Union- 
town,  on  January  3,  1893,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty-eight  years.  Of  the  children.  Captain 
William  is  dead,  the  rest  are  living.  Thomas  B., 
Jean  and  James  A.  live  in  Uniontown.  Ewing  B. 
lives  on  the  old  homestead  in  Menallen  township, 
and  Elizabeth  is  the  wife  of  J.  T.  Colvin,  President 
of  the  Pittsburgh  National  Bank  of  Commerce,  and 
lives  in  Pittsburgh. 

William  Searight  was  a  man  of  the  most  gener- 
ous and  humane  character,  ever  ready  to  lend  his 
counsel,  his  sympathies,  and  his  purse  to  the  aid  of 
others.  Though  a  strong  political  party  man,  yet 
he  always  treated  his  opponents  wdth  courtesy.  In 
religion  he  was  like  most  of  the  race  to  which  he 
belonged,  imbued  with  Calvinism.  The  brightest 
traits  of  his  character  were  exemplified  in  his  last 
hours.  So  far  as  human  judgment  can  decide,  he 
died  a  Christian.  His  aged  widow  often  quoted  an 
expression  he  made  as  he  was  approaching  the  sad 
realities  of  death,  which  gave  her  much  comfort 


16 


then,  and  continued  to  comfort  her  as  her  trembling 
footsteps  drew  near  the  shores  of  the  same  river, 
over  which  he  passed  so  many  years  ago;  it  was 
this :  "  Our  prayers  have  been  answered ;  I  feel 
that  if  I  should  die  to-night,  the  Lord  will  receive 
me  into  His  Holy  Kingdom."  Although  death 
plucked  him  from  the  very  threshold  of  earthly 
honors,  yet  it  caused  him  no  regrets.  The  King- 
dom into  which  he  was  about  to  enter  presented 
higher  honors,  and  purer  enjoyments.  To  him  they 
offered : 

"No  midnight  shade,  no  clouded  sun, 
But  sacred,  high,  eternal  noon." 

A  more  emphatic  eulogy  than  is  in  the  power 
of  language  to  express  was  bestowed  upon  him  on 
the  day  of  his  funeral,  by  the  assembling  around 
his  coffin,  to  perform  the  last  sad  duty  of  friend- 
ship, of  as  great  if  not  a  greater  number  of  citizens 
than  ever  attended  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  any 
one  who  had  died  within  the  limits  of  Fayette 
county.  Among  that  vast  assemblage  were  alike 
the  patriarchs  of  the  county  and  the  rising  youth 
who  came  to  give  their  testimony  to  the  lofty  worth 
in  life  of  the  distinguished  dead.  A  few  days  after 
his  death  a  large  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Fayette 
county,  irrespective  of  party,  convened  at  the  court 
house  for  the  purpose  of  bearing  suitable  testimony 


to  his  memory  and  character.  The  following  gen- 
tlemen were  chosen  officers:  Hon.  I^athaniel  Sw- 
ing, president;  Hon.  Daniel  Sturgeon  (ex-United 
States  senator)  and  Z.  Ludington,  vice-presidents; 
John  B.  Krepps  and  R.  P.  Flenniken,  secretaries. 
On  motion  of  Hon.  James  Yeech  (later  author  of 
"Monongahela  of  Old"),  a  committe  on  resolu- 
tions, composed  of  leading  citizens,  was  appointed, 
which  committee  presented  the  following  pre- 
amble and  resolutions,  which  were  unanimously 
adopted : 

"When  a  valuable  citizen  dies,  it  is  meet  that 
the  community  of  which  he  was  a  member  mourn 
his  loss.  A  public  expression  of  their  sorrow  at 
such  an  event  is  due  as  some  solace  to  the  grief  of 
the  bereaved  family  and  friends,  and  as  an  incen- 
tive to  others  to  earn  for  their  death  the  same  dis- 
tinction. 

"In  the  recent  death  of  William  Searight,  this 
community  has  lost  such  a  citizen.  Such  an  event 
has  called  this  public  meeting,  into  which  enter  no 
schemes  of  political  promotion,  no  partisan  pur- 
poses of  empty  eulogy.  Against  all  this  death  has 
shut  the  door.  While  yet  the  tear  hangs  upon  the 
cheek  of  his  stricken  family,  and  tidings  of  his 
death  are  unread  by  many  of  his  friends,  we,  his 
fellow  citizens,  neighbors,  friends,  of  all  parties, 
have  assembled  to  speak  to  those  who  knew  and 


18 


loved  him  best,  and  to  those  who  knew  liim  not, 
the  words  of  sorrow  and  truth,  in  sincerity  and 
soberness.     Therefore  as  the  sense  of  this  nieet- 

^^  Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  William  Sea- 
right,  Fayette  county  and  the  commonwealth  of 
Pennsylvania  have  lost  one  of  their  best  and  most 
useful  citizens.  The  people  at  large  may  not  realize 
their  loss,  but  the  community  in  which  he  lived, 
over  whose  comforts  and  interests  were  diffused 
the  influences  of  his  liberality  and  enterprise,  feel 
it,  while  his  friends,  of  all  classes,  parties  and  pro- 
fessions, to  whom  he  clung,  and  who  clung  to  him, 
mourn  it. 

'^Resolved,  That  while  we  would  withhold  our 
steps  from  the  sanctuary  of  domestic  grief,  we  may 
be  allowed  to  express  to  the  afliicted  widow  and 
children  of  the  deceased  our  unfeigned  sorrow  and 
sympathy  in  their  great  bereavement,  and  to  tender 
them  our  assurance  that  while  in  their  hearts  the 
memory  of  the  husband  and  father  will  ever  be 
cherished,  in  our  hearts  will  be  kept  the  liveliest 
recollections  of  his  virtues  as  a  citizen  and  a 
friend. 

'''Resolved,,  That  among  the  elements  which  must 
enter  into  every  truthful  estimate  of  the  character 
of  William  Searight,  are  a  warm  amenity  of  man- 
ner, combined  with  great  dignity  of  deportment, 

19 


which  were  not  the  less  attractive  by  their  plain- 
ness and  want  of  ostentation ;  elevated  feelings 
more  pure  than  passionless;  high  purposes  with 
untiring  energy  in  their  accomplishment;  an  en- 
nobling sense  of  honor  and  individual  indepen- 
dence, which  kept  him  always  true  to  himself  and 
to  his  engagements  ;  unfaltering  fidelity  to  his 
friends;  a  liberality  which  heeded  no  restraint,  but 
means  and  merit;  great  promptness  and  fearless- 
ness in  the  discharge  of  what  he  believed  to  be  a 
duty,  private  or  public,  guided  by  a  rigid  integrity, 
which  stood  all  tests  and  withstood  all  temptations ; 
honesty  and  truthfulness  in  word  and  deed,  which 
no  seductions  could  weaken  nor  assaults  overthrow, 
in  all  respects  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune  and 
fame.  These,  with  the  minor  virtues  in  full  pro- 
portion, are  some  of  the  outlines  of  character  which 
stamped  the  man  whose  death  we  mourn,  as  one 
much  above  the  ordinary  level  of  his  race. 

'^.Resolved,  That  while  we  have  here  nothing  to 
do  or  say  as  to  the  loss  sustained  by  the  political 
party  to  which  he  belonged,  and  whose  candidate 
he  was  for  an  office  of  great  honor  and  responsi- 
bility, we  may  be  allowed  to  say  that  had  he  lived 
and  been  successful,  with  a  heart  so  rigidly  set  as 
was  his,  with  feelings  so  high  and  integrity  so  lirm, 
and  withal  an  amount  of  practical  intelligence  so 
ample  as  he  possessed,  his  election  could  have  been 


20 


regretted  by  no  citizen  who  knew  liini  and  wlio 
placed  the  public  interests  beyond  selfish  ends  and 
party  success.  As  a  politician  w^e  knew  him  to 
hold  to  his  principles  and  party  predilections  with 
a  tenacious  grasp,  yet  he  was  ever  courteous  and 
liberal  in  his  deportment  and  views  towards  liis 
political  opponents. 

'^Resolved.,  That  in  the  life  and  character  of 
William  Searight  we  see  a  most  instructive  and 
encouraging  example.  Starting  in  the  struggle  of 
life  with  an  humble  business  poor  and  unbefriended, 
with  an  honest  mind  and  a  true  heart,  with  high 
purposes  and  untiring  industry,  he  by  degrees 
gained  friends  and  means  which  never  forsook 
him.  He  thus  won  for  himself  and  family  ample 
wealth,  and  attained  a  position  among  his  fellow- 
men  which  those  who  have  had  the  best  advantages 
our  country  affords  might  well  envy.  That  wealth 
and  that  position  he  used  with  a  just  liberality  and 
influence  for  the  benefit  of  all  around  and  depen- 
dent upon  him.  Though  dead,  he  yet  speaketh  to 
every  man  in  humble  business  —  'Go  thou  and  do 
likewise,  and  such  shall  be  thy  reward  in  life  and 
in  death.' 

'•'Resolved,  That  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting 
be  furnished  for  publication  in  all  the  papers  of  the 
county,  and  a  copy  thereof,  signed  by  the  officers, 
be  presented  to  the  family  of  the  deceased." 

21 


FAC  SIMILE   OF   RESOLUTIONS 
Passed  by  leading  democrats  of  Philadelphia  upon  learning  of  the  death  of  William  Searight. 


The  leading  democrats  of  Pliiladelpliia,  upon 
learning  of  William  Seariglit's  death,  met  and 
passed  resolutions  of  respect  to  his  many  virtues. 
A  copy  of  these  resolutions  were  beautifully  en- 
graved and  sent  to  his  family. 

A  few  weeks  previous  to  Mr.  Searight's  death, 
the  Congressional  conferrees  of  Fayette,  Washing- 
ton and  Greene  counties  met  at  Waynesburg,  and 
passed  resolutions  endorsing  Pierce  and  King,  Gov- 
ernor Bigler,  John  L.  Dawson,  and  William  Sea- 
right.     Of  Mr.  Searight  they  said : 

^'Besolved,  That  it  shall  be  our  pride  and  duty  to 
contribute  by  every  honorable  means  in  our  power 
to  swell  the  Democratic  majority  for  our  neighbor 
and  well-tried  Democrat,  William  Searight, — 
candidate  for  canal  comjnissioner  —  knowing  him 
to  be  the  very  man  for  the  position,  and  that  if 
elected  he  will  carry  into  office  the  same  energy, 
talent,  honesty,  and  kindness  of  heart  which  have 
distinguished  him  at  home  in  the  discharge  of  his 
private  pursuits." 

•  Among  Mr.  Searight's  papers  are  found  many 
social  invitations  from  President  Buchanan  and 
other  men  of  national  fame. 

After  his  death  resolutions  of  condolence  w^ere 
passed  at  meetings  held  in  adjoining  counties,  and 
the  press  throughout  Pennsjdvania  paid  handsome 
tributes  of  respect  to  his  life  and  character. 

23 


The  funeral  services  of  William  Searight  were 
conducted  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Wilson,  founder  of 
Dunlap's  Creek  Presbyterian  academy,  and  his  re- 
mains were  interred  at  Grace  church,  near  the  vil- 
lage of  Searights,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  of  which  he  was  a  member. 

William  Searight  has  passed  from  time  to  eter- 
nity, and  left  an  untarnished  name  and  honorable 
course  in  life  behind  him.  Let  those  w4io  would 
attain  to  a  like  worthy  name  and  useful  career, 
realize  that  such  can  only  be  obtained  by  energy, 
industry,  economy,  honesty  and  sobriety. 


24 


f^^W^  j     e:^<^-/«y^^  *:^4lCt-e^f^4  . 


f^flCHEli  (BHOWlMpiEliD)  SEA^IGHT- 
STIDGE!^. 


/^NE  of  the  later  and  most  powerful  of  the  races  of 
the  human  family  is  the  English  ;  and  the  mak- 
ing of  the  Englishman  can  be  traced  from  the  cra- 
dle and  nursery  of  the  human  race  in  Central  Asia, 
away  into  five  great  climate  zones,  around  whose 
settlement  centers  grew  race  masses.  Three  were 
in  Asia,  one  along  the  Nile,  the  other  on  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean,  where  civilization  had  its 
birth  and  the  two  great  groups  of  modern  nations, 
the  Latin  and  the  Greek,  had  their  rise.  Of  the 
fierce  Northland  German  races,  that  swept  from 
the  Mediterranean  to  the  Baltic,  one  was  Teutonic, 
whose  unconquerable  tribes  settled  largely  along 
the  northward  waterways  from  the  heart  of  the 
great  German  forest.  Three  of  these  tribes,  the 
Angles,  Jutes  and  Saxons,  stretched  westward  along 
the  North  Sea  coast  from  the  mouth  of  Elbe  River 
to  that  of  the  Weser.  Their  life  was  fierce  and 
the  land  was  wild,  but  both  were  needed,  the  one 
to  fashion  the  earliest  character  elements  of  the 
parent  stock  of  the  w^onderous   Englishman,  and 


the  other  to  render  a  birthland  so  uninviting  as  to 
drive  its  children  forth  to  their  destiny  of  an  island 
home  and  a  world-wide  dominion.  The  Britons' 
appeal  for  aid  against  the  Pictish  invader  of  Scot- 
land was  answered  by  the  grating  of  Anglican, 
Saxon,  and  Jutish  boats  upon  the  British  shore; 
but  the  invited  defenders,  when  the  Pict  was  driven 
back,  became  the  self-appointed  conquerors,  and 
the  nursery  was  exchanged  for  the  school  grounds 
of  the  oncoming  Englishman. 

The  Angles  gave  their  name  to  the  country, 
the  Saxons  theirs  to  the  language,  while  the  Jutes 
were  so  few  in  numbers  as  to  stamp  their  name  in 
no  prominent  way  and  were  even  denied  mention 
in  the  name  of  the  new  race,  which  at  the  time  of 
their  conquest  by  the  I^ormans  was  called  Anglo- 
Saxon.  The  Anglo-Saxon  had  driven  the  Briton 
from  the  land,  but  when  in  turn  they  were  con- 
quered by  the  Dane  and  Norman  they  remained, 
and  in  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  had  so  largely 
absorbed  their  last  conquerors  that  there  were  an 
Anglo-Saxon  and  Norman-Dane  people  that  became 
known  as  English  when  they  aided  the  Barons,  on 
June  16th,  1215,  to  compel  King  John  to  sign  the 
Magna  Charta,  which  secured  many  liberties  for  all 
the  people  of  England,  which  country  had  formerly 
been  called  Angleland.  From  the  granting  of  the 
Great  Charter  the  Englishman  rapidly  developed 

28 


those  magnificent  and  powerful  traits  of  character 
for  which  he  is  noted  all  over  the  world.  He  warred 
with  Wales  and  Scotland  and  France  from  1282  to 
1450,  and  in  the  next  hundred  years  had  planted 
great  colonies  in  the  new  >vorld.  In  the  meantime 
the  strength  of  the  English  people  was  increasing 
in  the  growth  of  the  House  of  Commons,  whose 
power  was  instrumental  in  the  destruction  of  the 
Feudal  nobility  in  the  War  of  the  Roses,  hut  was 
not  powerful  enough  to  restrain  the  Crown  until 
the  days  of  the  Stuarts.  Then  the  great  struggle 
was  fought  out  and  Absolute  monarchy  went  down 
in  the  great  Revolution  of  1688,  when  Constitu- 
tional government  and  a  Limited  monarchy  were 
established.  One  year  later  the  Bill  of  Rights  was 
passed,  the  Commons  was  in  the  ascendancy,  and 
the  making  of  the  Englishman  was  completed. 
His  character  was  fully  formed.  He  was  as  un- 
bending as  oak,  possessed  of  great  fortitude,  and 
had  a  high  sense  of  honor  and  a  strong  love  of 
home  and  country.  Intelligence,  genius  and  de- 
.cision  are  his  in  bountiful  measure,  and,  though 
sometimes  wrong,  yet  the  English  have  swept  for- 
ward in  a  career  of  greatness  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth  that  has  never  been  equaled  in  the  old, 
and  can  only  be  surpassed  in  the  new  world  by 
the  United  States,  the  mightiest  of  England's  many 
planted  colonies  in  the  different  parts  of  the  globe. 

29 


From  this  wonderful  English  race  was  descended 
Mrs.  Rachel  (Brownfield)  Searight-Stidger,  the  sub- 
ject of  the  second  of  these  two  memoirs. 

Mrs.  Rachel  Brownfield  Stidger  (formerly  Sea- 
right,  widow  of  William  Searight),  died  at  her 
home  at  the  west  end  of  Main  street,  Uniontown, 
Pennsylvania,  at  fifteen  minutes  after  eight  o'clock 
on  Tuesday,  January  3,  1893. 

Her  father,  Thomas  Brownfield,  and  her  mother, 
Elizabeth  (Fisher)  Brownfield,  were  both  natives 
of  Frederick  county,  Virginia.  Their  remains  are 
buried  in  the  central  part  of  the  old  Methodist 
church  burial  ground  at  Uniontown,  Pennsylvania, 
near  the  grave  of  Col.  William  B.  Roberts,  of  Mex- 
ican war  fame.  One  infant  son  and  others  of  her 
relatives  also  sleep  there.  Her  grandfather,  Barak 
Fisher,  and  her  grandmother,  Mary  (Butler)  Fisher, 
were  both  natives  of  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania, 
and  sleep  in  the  old  Back  Creek  meeting  house 
burial  ground,  at  Gainsboro,  Frederick  county, Vir- 
ginia, about  nine  miles  from  Winchester.  Her 
grandparents  were  married  in  '^  Buckingham  Meet- 
ing House,"  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania,  on  the 
18th  day  of  the  Second  month,  1761 .  This  meeting 
house  has  the  usual  partition  or  division  for  the 
purpose  of  separating  at  certain  meetings  the  Or- 
thodox and  the  Hicksites.  In  this  partition  there 
is  a  bullet  hole  made  by  a  ball  from  a  revolutionary 


30 


gun  shot  over  fifteen  years  after  this  marriage  took 
place.  At  a  meeting  on  the  6th  day  of  the  Sixth 
month,  1763,  at  Hopewell  meeting  house, Frederick 
county,  Virginia,  there  was  a  certificate  produced 
from  Buckingham  monthly  meeting,  in  Bucks 
county,  this  State,  for  Barak  Fisher  and  Mary 
(Butler)  Fisher,  his  wife,  which  was  read  and  ac- 
cepted. Hence  her  grandparents  must  have  re- 
moved from  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania,  to  Fred- 
erick county,  Virginia,  in  the  year  1763.  They 
settled  on  Back  creek,  near  the  village  of  Gains- 
boro,  about  nine  miles  northwest  of  Winchester, 
Virginia.  The  ruins  of  the  old  house  in  which 
they  lived  when  they  first  removed  from  Pennsyl- 
vania to  Virginia  can  yet  be  seen.  The  old  farm 
upon  which  they  originally  settled  is  still  in  posses- 
sion of  some  of  their  descendants.  Her  grand- 
mother, Mary  (Butler)  Fisher,  died  in  the  year 
1800.  Her  grave  is  still  clearly  and  distinctly 
marked.  Her  grandfather,  Barak  Fisher,  died  in 
the  year  1784.  His  grave  is  not  so  clearly  defined. 
The  records  of  Hopewell  monthly  meeting,  of 
which  Back  creek  meeting  was  a  branch,  contain 
the  names  of  her  grandparents  and  all  their  chil- 
dren, as  plain  and  distinct  as  if  they  had  been 
written  but  yesterday.  So  also  is  the  record  of  her 
lineage  clear  back  to  the  origin  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  in  the  early  part  of  1600.      Her  greats 

31 


grandfather,  John  Fisher,  and  her  great-grand- 
mother, Elizabeth  (Scarborough)  Fisher,  natives  of 
Yorkshire,  England,  sleep  in  the  Buckingham 
burying  ground,  near  Centreville,  Bucks  county, 
this  State.  Their  graves  are  not  very  distinctly  de- 
fined, as  the  Society  of  Friends  in  the  very  early 
history  of  this  country  did  not  particularly  care  to 
mark  the  graves  of  their  dead.  Her  great-grand- 
father, John  Fisher,  was  born  in  Barmstone,  York- 
shire, England,  1672,  Twelfth  month,  20th  day. 
He  was  the  eldest  son  of  John  and  Sarah  (Hutch- 
inson) Fisher.  He  emigrated  in  1703,  and  settled 
in  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania.  On  the  3d  day  of 
the  Third  month,  1710,  he  married  Mary  Janney, 
in  Falls  meeting  house.  Mary  (Hough- Janney) 
Fisher  was  the  widow  of  Jacob  Janney.  Her 
maiden  name  was  Hough.  Jacob  Janney  was  a 
relative  of  Samuel  Janney,  who  was  the  author  of 
'' Janney's  History  of  the  Society  of  Friends"  in 
America.  John  Fisher  and  Mary  (Hough- Janney) 
Fisher  had  one  child  named  Mary.  Thomas  Max- 
well Potts,  of  Cannonsburg,  Pennsylvania,  is  one 
of  the  descendants  of  this  child  Mary.  John 
Fisher's  first  wife  lived  only  a  short  time.  On  the 
6th  day  of  the  Eleventh  month,  1719,  her  great- 
grandfather, John  Fisher,  married  Elizabeth  Scar- 
borough. From  this  marriage  there  was  a  large 
family  of  children,   of  whom   Barak    Fisher,   her 

32 


grandfather,  was  the  eighth  child.  The  records  of 
Buckingham  monthly  meeting,  and  of  the  Middle- 
town  monthly  meeting,  Bucks  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, have  the  names  of  her  grandfather,  Barak 
Fisher,  and  her  grandmother,  Mary  (Butler)  Fisher, 
and  their  brothers  and  sisters  plainly  and  distinctly 
set  forth.  These  same  records  also  have  the 
names  of  her  great-grandfather,  John  Fisher,  and 
her  great-grandmother,  Elizabeth  (Scarborough) 
Fisher,  as  distinctly  shown,  whilst  the  records  of 
Hull  monthly  meeting  in  Yorkshire,  England,  have 
the  names  of  the  parents,  and  date  of  marriage, 
and  also  the  names  of  the  brothers  and  sisters  of 
her  great-grandfather,  John  Fisher,  as  clearly  writ- 
ten. Her  great-grandfather,  Thomas  Butler,  was 
born  at  Hanley,  on  the  Thames,  England.  His  first 
settlement  in  America  was  in  Middletown,  Bucks 
county,  Pennsylvania,  after  which  he  removed  to 
Chester,  in  Delaware  county,  this  State.  His  certi- 
ficate is  dated  Tenth  month,  5th  day,  1728.  On  the 
4th  day  of  the  First  month,  1730,  he  re-deposited 
his  certificate  in  Middletown  monthl}^  meeting, 
Bucks  county,  from  Chester  monthly  meeting,  Dela- 
ware county,  Pennsylvania.  On  the  17th  day  of 
the  Fourth  month,  1731,  he  married  Rebecca  Gil- 
bert, in  the  Middletown  meeting  house.  Thomas 
Butler  and  Rebecca  (Gilbert)  Butler  had  two  chil- 
dren,  named  Joseph    and   Mary.      Mary   married 

33 


Barak  Fisher,  and  they  removed,  as  has  already  been 
stated,  from  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania,  to  Fred- 
erick county,  Virginia,  in  the  year  1763,  where  they 
raised  a  large  family,  one  of  whom  (Elizabeth)  was 
the  mother  of  the  subject  of  this  memorial.  Thus, 
through  scrupulously  kept,  carefully  preserved  and 
unimpeachable  records,  the  lineage  of  Rachel 
(Brownfield)  Searight-Stidger  is  traced  back  to  the 
origin  of  the  Society  of  Friends  in  the  early  part 
of  1600.  From  thence,  through  equally  reliable 
sources,  in  Parish  and  other  records,  her  lineage 
can  be  traced  into  the  same  family  of  Fishers 
of  which  John  Fisher,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  who 
was  beheaded  by  Henry  VIII.  in  the  early  part  of 
the  year  1535,  was  a  member.  Through  her  grand- 
mother, Mary  Butler,  her  lineage  is  also  traceable 
through  the  same  reliable  sources,  into  the  family 
of  which  Bishop  Butler,  of  Butler's  Analogy  fame, 
was  a  member.  The  alleged  cause  of  the  behead- 
ing of  John  Fisher,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  by  Henry 
YIIL,  was  because  the  Bishop  refused  to  declare 
his  marriage  to  Anne  Boleyn  legal.  Persistently 
refusing  to  affirm  its  legality,  the  Bishop  was  com- 
mitted to  the  tower,  and  treated  with  great  bar- 
barity. Pope  Paul  III.,  as  a  reward  for  his  services, 
sent  the  Bishop  a  Cardinal's  hat,  and  when  King 
Henry  was  informed  of  this,  he  exclaimed :  "Mother 
of  God,  he  shall  wear  it  on  his  shoulders,  then,  for 

34 


I  will  leave  him  never  a  head  to  set  it  on.''  After 
a  brief  trial  for  treason,  he  was  condemned  and 
barbarously  beheaded. 

Rachel  Browniield  Stid^^er  (formerly  Soaright) 
was  born  at  the  village  of  Gainesborough,  Frederick 
county,  Virginia,  on  the  7th  day  of  February,  1805. 
When  she  was  about  six  weeks  old  her  parents  re- 
moved from  Virginia  to  Uniontown,  Fayette  county, 
Pennsylvania.  Her  father  and  mother,  her  sisters 
Catherine, Rebecca,  Sarah  and  Mary,  and  her  brother 
Ewing  and  herself  constituted  the  family  at  that 
time.  They  came  from  Gainesborough  through 
Romney  over  what  was  known  as  the  old  mail  route 
road,  and  over  the  same  route  which  General  Brad- 
dock  had  come  some  fifty  years  before  on  his  disas- 
trous campaign  through  the  mountains  toward 
Fort  Duquesne.  They  traveled  the  old  Braddock 
road  until  they  came  to  "  Slacks,"  on  top  of  Laurel 
Hill,  near  Washington's  Springs.  From  Slacks 
(now  Washington's  Springs)  they  came  to  Union- 
town  over  the  old  Is'emacolin  road.  When  they 
came  over  the  mountains,  in  1805,  the  only  stop- 
ping places  on  the  old  Braddock  road,  between 
Uniontown  and  Cumberland,  were,  viz. :  Slacks, 
now  Washington's  Springs;  Clements,  near  Farm- 
ington;  Clarks,  the  Burnt  Cabins,  just  back  of 
Squire  Smith's;  Smiths,  at  the  ferry,  now  Smith- 
field;  Boughs,  one  mile  east  of  Smiths;  Simpkins, 

35 


seven  miles  east  of  Boughs;  Tomlirisons,  the  Little 
Meadows;  Musselmans,  now  Frostburg;  Gwins, 
at  the  forks  of  the  road,  the  left  road  going  to 
Cumberland,  and  the  right  road  to  Roraney  and 
Winchester.  Sarah,  the  third  child,  relict  of  the 
late  Dennis  Springer,  of  North  Union  town- 
ship, recently  deceased  at  the  age  of  ninety-four 
years,  frequently  said  that  whilst  they  were  on  the 
way  from  Virginia  to  Uniontown  they  stopped  at 
what  was  called  the  "Burnt  Cabins,"  or  "Clarks," 
and  spent  Easter  day.  Sarah  was  about  eight  years 
of  age  at  that  time,  and  up  to  the  time  of  her  death, 
in  1891,  she  recollected  distinctly  that  her  parents 
sent  out  and  got  a  basket  of  Easter  eggs,  and  that 
they  had  an  Easter  egg  feast  at  the  "Burnt  Cabins" 
on  Easter  of  the  year  1805.  The  "Burnt  Cabins" 
was  on  the  old  Braddock  road  not  far  from  the  line 
between  Henry  Clay  and  Wharton  townships,  Fa}'- 
ette  county,  Pennsylvania,  where,  in  1790,  a  man 
named  Clark  lived,  and  which  on  the  old  road  was 
called  "  Clarks."  In  1796  David  Young  kept 
tavern  there.  The  ruins  of  the  old  stone  chimney 
and  a  splendid  spring  of  the  coldest  water  are  the 
only  things  left  to  mark  its  site.  As  Easter  Sunday 
in  1805  fell  upon  the  14th  day  of  April,  the  family 
was  at  the  "Burnt  Cabins"  at  that  date,  en  route 
for  Uniontown.  They  arrived  in  Uniontown  on  the 
18th  or  19th  day  of  April,  1805.      The  house  in 


36 


which  the  subject  of  this  nieniorial  was  horn  in  Vir- 
ginia is  still  standing.  The  old  stone  chimney  is 
crumbling,  but  the  house  is  still  in  a  pretty  good 
state  of  preservation.  The  old  homestead,  also, 
where  she  landed  in  Uniontown,  an  infant  of  but 
a  few  weeks  of  age,  is  still  standing,  and  is  one  of 
the  landmarks  of  the  olden  time.  It  is  located  at 
the  west  end  of  Main  street,  and  for  many  years 
has  been  owned  and  occupied  by  her  youngest 
brother, i^athaniel  Brownlield.  Iler  education  con- 
sisted of  all  that  Uniontown  could  aftbrd  at  that 
time.  She  went  to  school  in  a  school  room  in  the 
old  Methodist  church  which  stood  on  the  site  of 
the  property  now  owned  by  William  McShane,  on 
the  west  end  of  Peter  street.  In  her  girlhood  days 
she  sang  in  the  Methodist  church  choir  in  this  old 
church.  Her  mother  was  a  member  of  the  "  Society 
of  Friends,"  but  as  there  was  no  meeting  house  of 
that  denomination  near  enough  to  attend,  she  con- 
nected herself,  after  their  arrival  in  Uniontown,  with 
the  Methodist  church,  and  continued  a  consistent 
and  faithful  member  of  that  church  until  her  death 
in  1835.  William  McCleary,  the  eldest  son  of  her 
eldest  daughter,  Catherine,  and  who  now,  at  seventy- 
nine  years  of  age,  resides  on  Church  street,  at  Union- 
town,  says  that  when  a  boy  he  used  to  frequently 
drive  with  his  grandmother  out  to  Sandy  Hill 
"  meeting  house,"  in  Menallen  township,  which  has 


37 


long  since  been  abandoned  by  the  Society  of  Friends. 
The  late  William  Wilson,  the  banker,  has  often 
stated  that  Elizabeth  Brownfield  died  one  of  the 
most  saintly  deaths  that  he  had  ever  witnessed. 
Her  daughter  Rachel,  the  subject  of  this  second 
memorial,  and  also  her  other  children,  were  constant 
attendants  in  childhood  at  the  Methodist  church. 
Her  brother  John,  late  of  South  Bend,  Indiana,  and 
her  sister  Hannah  and  family,  of  the  same  place,  to- 
gether with  others  of  her  brothers  and  sisters,  have 
been  very  faithful  and  prominent  members  of  the 
Methodist  church.  Rachel,  however,  never  united 
with  the  M.  E.  church.  In  the  year  1825,  when 
General  Marquis  de  LaFayette  visited  Uniontown, 
Rachel  was  one  of  the  young  girls  who  were 
selected  to  be  dressed  in  white  and  to  precede  the 
escorting  procession  and  strew  flowers  in  the  path- 
way of  the  distinguished  guest. 

On  March  25, 1826,  she  was  united  in  marriage 
to  William  Searight,  of  Menallen  township,  Fayette 
county,  to  which  place  she  removed  immediately 
after  her  marriage.  Her  first  married  life  home 
was  on  the  old  Kemacolin  road,  which  left  the  old 
Braddock  road  at  "  Slacks,"  on  top  of  Laurel  Hill, 
and  passed  through  UniontoAvn  to  Brownsville. 
Her  home  was  situated  on  this  road  about  an  eighth 
of  a  mile  north  of  the  present  village  of  Searights, 
in  Menallen  township.    She  soon, however,  removed 


38 


from  this  location  on  to  the  then  new  (now  old) 
E'ational  road,  and  into  the  village  of  Searights. 
Here  she  lived  until  the  homestead  was  huilt,  itito 
which  she  moved  and  where  she  resided  during 
the  remainder  of  the  days  that  she  spent  in  Men- 
alien  township. 

On  August  12, 1852,  William  Searight,  her  hus- 
band, died,  yet  she  still  continued  to  occupy  the 
homestead  until  the  year  1858,  at  which  time  she 
niarried  Harmon  Stidger,  M.  D.,  of  (Janton,  Ohio, 
and  removed  with  him  to  that  city.  She  resided 
in  Canton  during  the  civil  war,  and  watched  its 
progress  with  great  interest.  Her  son  William  was 
a  captain  in  the  8th  Pennsylvania  reserves,  and  was 
reported  very  sick  while  the  regiment  laid  upon 
the  river  near  Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  and  she 
hastened  to  his  bedside  to  minister  unto  him.  On 
this  occasion  she  had  a  letter  direct  from  the  hand 
of  the  great  war  secretary,  Edwin  M.  Stanton.  It 
was  also  on  this  trip  that  she  saw  Abraham  Lincoln 
on  horseback.  He  was,  in  company  with  some  of 
the  cabinet,  reviewing  the  troops  which  were  sta- 
tioned near  Fredericksburg,  Virginia.  After  re- 
turning from  her  trip  she  frequently  remarked  upon 
the  length  of  the  great  war  president's  back,  as  she 
saw  him  on  a  splendid  charger,  towering  above  his 
cabinet  and  guards.  When  coming  up  the  Potomac 
she  took  occasion  to  speak  and  minister  tenderly  to 


39 


many  of  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  who  were  on 
the  boat.  When  the  nation  was  draped  in  mourn- 
ing because  of  the  tragic  death  of  the  illustrious 
president,  she  reluctantly  joined  this  great  populace 
in  submiting  to  the  will  of  Him  whose  government 
is  past  understanding.  Later  on,  when  President 
Garfield  was  shamefully  assassinated,  the  tenderness 
of  her  heart  and  the  nobleness  of  her  character 
were  again  show^n  forth  in  her  great  grief  because 
of  that  sad  affair.  So  interested  w^as  she  in  this 
matter  that  she  was  always  impatient  to  see  and 
read  the  bulletins  as  they  told  of  his  painful  suffer- 
ing, until  the  end  came.  She  was  equally  interested 
in  reading  the  trial  of  his  assassin,  and  joined  the 
nation  in  lauding  the  justice  that  led  to  his  final 
removal.  She  lived  in  Canton  until  the  year  1869., 
at  which  time  she  purchased  what  is  known  as  the 
"  Robert's  property,"  situated  at  the  west  end  of 
Main  8treet,Uniontown,  Pennsylvania,  and  returned 
to  Fayette  county,  this  State,  and  to  the  old  town 
in  which  she  had  passed  her  earlier  days,  to  live 
the  remainder  of  her  life  amongst  her  old  friends 
and  early  acquaintances,  and  from  the  year  1869 
until  her  death,  lived  within  one  hundred  feet  of 
the  spot  on  which  she  landed  in  1805,  an  infant  in 
her  mother's  arms.  Soon  after  her  first  marriage 
and  removal  to  Menallen  township  to  live,  she 
became  a  member  of  Grace  Episcopal  church,  in 

40 


Menallen  township,  and  continued  a  faithful  mem- 
ber of  the  Episcopal  church  during  her  whole  after 
life.  She  was  confirmed  by  Bishop  Onderdonk, 
whilst  the  Rev.  Mr.  Freeman  was  E-ector  of  Christ 
church,  Brownsville. 

Before  the  building  of  the  present  Grace  church 
at  Menallen,  Episcopal  services  were  frequently  held 
at  her  home.  After  the  completion  of  the  present 
church  building,  we  are  carried  back  in  youthful 
memory  to  a  group  of  male  members  on  one  side 
of  the  aisle  and  a  group  of  female  members  on  the 
other  side.  Old  Robert  Jackson,  who  donated  the 
ground  upon  which  the  church  stands,  and  also  the 
graveyard  in  which  the  dust  of  many  of  these  two 
groups  is  buried,  stood  with  trembling  limbs  among 
those  on  the  right  side  of  the  aisle.  Old  Philip 
Fout,  with  his  long  cue,  a  part  of  the  dress  of  those 
days,  with  quivering  voice  and  trembling  hands,  was 
there  also,  and  started  the  tunes  to  "A  Charge 
to  keep  I  have,"  and  "When  I  can  read  my  title 
clear,"  and  other  old  and  familiar  hymns.  James 
Allison,  the  old  postmaster,  whose  name  is  the 
synonym  of  honesty  and  integrity,  was  there  trying 
to  help  the  singing  along  in  his  feeble  way,  as  well 
as  he  knew  how.  Hiram  Jackson,  John  Dixon  and 
the  Moores,  from  near  ^ew  Salem,  were  also  heart- 
ily joining  in  the  service.  On  the  left  of  the  aisle 
there  was  a  group  of  females.    Amongst  this  saintly 


ive: 


group  were  Mrs.  Hugh  Keys,  Mrs.  John  Dixon, 
Mrs.  William  Searight  (the  subject  of  this  second 
memorial),  Mrs.  Hiram  Jackson,  Miss  Moore  and 
others.  Many  of  the  persons  who  composed  these 
hallowed  groups  have  long  since  passed  into  the 
heavenly  world.  Others  of  them  have  passed  over 
the  river  more  recently,  and  now  the  last  member 
of  these  groups,  Mrs.  Searight,  has  bowed  to  the 
incomprehensible  summons,  and  joins  the  others 
in  the  heaven  above  in  possibly  singing  the  same 
old  beautiful  and  angelic  hymns  they  sang  at  Grace, 
Menallen. 

The  names  of  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  Mrs. 
Searight  were  as  follows :  Catherine,  who  married 
Ewing  McCleary,  was  the  mother  of  our  townsman, 
William  McCleary.  Rebecca,  married  German  D. 
Hair,  who  came  from  Lancaster  county  to  Fayette 
county,  this  State,  during  the  time  the  National  road 
was  being  built.  German  D.  Hair  was  a  schoolmate 
and  always  a  great  friend  and  admirer  of  James 
Buchanan.  He  was  a  contractor  and  builder  of 
many  of  the  beautiful  and  substantial  stone  bridges 
which  yet  grace  the  old  National  road.  Sarah,  mar- 
ried Dennis  Springer,  late  of  North-Union  township, 
Fayette  county,  Pennsylvania.  Dennis  Springer 
descended  from  one  of  the  oldest  families  in  the 
country.  He  came  of  a  family  which  can  trace  its 
lineage  back  to  the  fifth  century.     Mary,  married 


42 


Charles  Wolverton,  who  removed  in  the  early  part 
of  this  century  to  Missouri,  where  he  raised  a  large 
and  widely  known  family.  Ewing,  who  was  well 
known  in  Fayette  county  as  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  highly  respected  merchants,  and  as  President 
of  the  People's  Bank  of  Fayette  county.  Thomas, 
who  was  for  many  years  a  resident  of  Henry  Clay 
township,  and  who  at  one  time  was  sheriff  of  Fay- 
ette county,  and  who  afterwards  removed  to  Mis- 
souri, where  he  died,  highly  respected  by  all  who 
knew  him.  John,  who  removed  at  an  early  date  to 
South  Bend,Indiana,where  he  became  a  very  promi- 
nent citizen  and  wealthy  merchant  and  banker. 
Financial  troubles,  however,  overtook  him  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  life,  but  never  swerved  him  from 
the  path  of  honesty  and  integrity.  He  became  a 
prominent,  active  and  influential  member  of  the 
Methodist  church,  and  in  his  palmy  days  was  also 
somewhat  distinguished  as  a  politician.  ITathaniel 
is  now,  and  has  been  since  his  birth,  a  resident  of 
Uniontown,  and  owns  and  occupies  the  old  Brown- 
field  homestead  at  the  west  end  of  Main  street,  and 
is  known  by  all  men  to  be  honest  and  straightfor- 
ward in  all  his  dealings.  Part  of  the  house  w^hich 
he  now  occupies  is  the  house  in  which  Rachel  (Sea- 
right)  Stidger,  the  subject  of  this  second  memorial, 
entered,  in  the  arms  of  her  mother,  in  the  spring 
of  the  year  1805,  aged  about  six  weeks.     Hannah 

43 


was  the  wife  of  the  late  William  B.  Roberts,  who 
left  his  home,  at  his  country's  call,  to  go  to  the 
Mexican  war,  and  who  died  soon  after  the  victorious 
army  entered  the  City  of  Mexico.  She  and  Mrs. 
Catherine  Baker,  her  only  living  child,  are  now 
residents  of  South  Bend,  Indiana.  Esther  is  the 
widow  of  C.  B.  Snyder,  once  a  successful  merchant 
in  Fayette  county,  afterwards  a  prominent  citizen 
and  merchant  in  Philadelphia,  Boston  and  New 
York.  She,  with  two  of  her  only  living  children, 
now  reside  in  New  York  city. 

Golden  treasures  to  the  living  are  pleasant 
memories  of  those  who  have  lived  life  full  well, 
and  in  ripened  years  of  advanced  age  have  passed 
from  the  weak  bonds  of  frail  mortality  and  the 
scenes  of  their  earthly  labors  to  life  immortal,  and 
to  the  world  of  eternal  blessedness.  Such  was  the 
life  and  departure  from  earth  of  Rachel  (Searight) 
Stidger.  She  was  quiet,  gentle  and  patient,  never 
neglecting  a  duty,  nor  failing  in  an  act  of  kindness, 
or  lacking  on  any  occasion  in  any  courtesy  of  life. 
Even  as  the  sunbeam  is  composed  of  millions  of 
smallest  rays,  so  was  her  life  made  up  of  unnum- 
bered thousands  of  acts  of  kindness,  deeds  of  char- 
ity, kind  looks,  pleasant  words  and  loving  counsels. 
Her  throne,  her  kingdom,  her  world  was  her  home, 
where  she  ruled  by  affection  and  kindness. 

Her  life  has  spanned  one  of  the  most  wonderful 

44 


periods  in  human  history  since  the  creation  of  the 
world.  She  was  reared  in  the  Land  wliere  tlie  ruins 
of  fort  and  mound  and  temple  of  the  dim  myster- 
ious Mound  Builders  were  plain  during  her  early 
and  childhood  years,  and  where  likewise  at  the 
same  time  were  to  be  seen  the  vestiges  of  villages 
and  the  traces  of  the  war-path  and  camping  grounds 
of  the  red  lords  of  the  forest,  in  a  country  they 
loved  so  well  as  a  private  hunting  ground.  These 
ruins,  visible  around  the  playground  of  her  infancy, 
were  the  fading  monuments  of  two  of  the  most 
wonderful  empires  of  the  world — the  Mound 
Builder  and  the  Indian.  The  Mound  Builders,  a 
race  with  civilization  but  without  history,  stretched 
wide  their  realm  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Alle- 
ghenies,  and  came  either  over  Behring  Strait,  on 
its  ice-bound  floor,  or  fled  from  fabled  Atlantis, 
when  it  was  sinking  in  earthquake  throes  beneath 
the  blue  waves  of  the  Atlantic.  Without  domestic 
animals  they  erected  forts,  great  temples,  altars, 
effigies,  and  tomb  mounds.  Southward  and  sun- 
ward they  traveled  after  many  generations  of  per- 
manent residence,  and  were  undoubtedly  the  archi- 
tects and  builders  of  the  great  halls,  cities,  temples, 
and  the  aqueducts  of  the  Montezumas  and  the 
Incas  of  Peru.  Their  age  corresponded  with  the 
stone  and  the  beginning  of  the  bronze  period  of 
Europe,  and  whether  the    ancient   Mexicans  and 

45 


Peruvians  were  their  degenerated  descendants,  or 
that  fever  and  famine,  or  plague  swept  them  from 
off  the  face  of  the  earth,  we  know  not.  We  only 
know  that  in  mystery  was  their  origin,  in  power 
and  civilization  was  their  reign,  and  in  darkness 
and  gloom  came  their  sad  fate  of  decay  and  extinc- 
tion. 

The  Indian  who  succeeded  the  Mound  Builder 
was  a  race  possessed  of  a  tradition  but  having  no 
civilization,  and  whose  origin  has  been  a  fruitful 
subject  of  conflicting  theories,  which  only  agree  in 
making  him  of  Mongolian  extraction,  on  account 
of  the  affinity  of  his  language  to  that  of  the  Tartar 
groups  of  languages.  The  Indian  copied  after  the 
Mound  Builder  in  flint  and  stone  for  rude  weapons 
and  crude  utensils,  while  fort  and  mound  only  sug- 
gested to  him  stone  pile  graves,  memorial  heap, 
and  stone  circle,  and  the  overgrown  highways 
which  he  found  were  only  partly  reproduced  in 
war-path  and  hunting  trail. 

Mrs.  Searight's  infancy  and  youth  were  passed 
when  warrior  and  chief,  like  flitting  shadows,  were 
going  to  and  fro  on  their  way  to  see  their  great 
father  at  Washington.  During  her  youthful  days, 
she  came  in  contact  with  that  wonderful  class  of 
people  of  the  AUeghenies,  who  were  then  pushing 
westward,  where  their  courage  and  arms  were  des- 
tined to  win  the  country  from  the  Lakes  to  the  liio 

46 


Grande.  Foremost  as  well  as  most  numerous  and 
always  prominent  in  that  western  tide  were  the 
Scotch -Irish,  the  grandest  self- asserting  race  that 
ever  lived  in  the  world.  One  of  this  nohle  race 
she  married,  in  the  person  of  William  Searight, 
who,  for  honesty,  sterling  integrity,  and  an  endur- 
ing name  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow-citizens,  has 
been  scarcely  paralleled,  as  w^as  shown  by  the  vast 
assemblage  who  came  to  his  funeral  to  add  their 
testimony  to  the  lofty  worth  in  life  of  the  distin- 
guished dead.  Ere  a  score  of  years  had  passed 
over  the  head  of  the  subject  of  this  second  memor- 
ial, she  had  witnessdthe  departure  of  the  red  lords 
of  the  forest,  and  the  passing  of  the  backwoods- 
men to  their  mission  of  conquest  in  the  valley  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  then  was  chosen  as  one  of  the 
young  maidens  who  strewed  flowers  in  the  pathway 
of  General  Marquis  de  LaFayette  when  he  passed 
through  the  county  which  bears  his  honored  name. 
She  was  the  last  survivor  of  that  little  band  of 
youth  and  beauty,  and  likewise  amongst  the  last  of 
the  assembled  hundreds  at  Uniontown  who  gazed 
upon  General  LaFayette,  America's  most  honored 
guest  and  noblest  friend.  Frequently,  in  speaking 
of  this  interesting  event,  she  has  stated  that  she 
heard  the  smack  of  the  kiss  when  General  LaFay- 
ette and  Albert  Gallatin,  then  a  distinguished  resi- 
dent of  the  county,  met  and  greeted  each  other  on 

47 


the  steps  of  the  old  court  house  of  that  day.  After 
this,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  she  lived  on  the 
old  ITational  road,  and  witnessed  in  that  time  the 
full-orbed  glory  of  stage  coach  travel  v^^ane  and  die 
before  the  iron  pathway  which,  within  her  span  of 
life,  was  to  stretch  throughout  the  land  from  ocean 
to  ocean.  During  the  next  fifteen  years,  which 
only  carried  her  from  the  prime  of  life  to  early  old 
age,  she  witnessed  the  second  stage  of  railroad 
growth  and  the  rise  and  termination  of  the  great- 
est civil  war  in  the  world's  history.  From  the 
close  of  this  war  until  the  centennial  year,  she  wit- 
nessed the  resting  period,  as  it  were,  of  the  nation, 
ere  it  moved  forward  in  the  van  of  modern  progress 
of  the  world.  From  the  centennial  year  until  the 
close  of  her  life,  surrounded  with  kind  friends  and 
endearing  relatives,  she  beheld  an  era  unequaled  in 
the  w^orld's  advancement.  During  that  time  the 
phonograph  had  brought  back  the  voices  of  those 
who  had  spoken,  and  had  made  their  tones  triumph- 
ant over  time,  death  and  the  tomb ;  the  telephone 
has  annihilated  distance  in  conversation,  and  elec- 
tricity in  a  more  pleasing  form  than  as  the  storm 
fire  of  the  heavens,  has  lighted  up  the  gloom  of 
night  in  city  and  town,  while  the  imprisoned  gases 
in  the  earth  have  been  conducted  into  mansion  and 
manufactory  to  afford  heat  and  service  without  dust 
or  ash. 


48 


Mrs.  Rachel  (Searight)  Stidger,  in  her  eighty- 
eight  years  of  life,  was  signally  fortunate  in  seeing 
more  change  of  event,  and  of  advancement  in  the 
material  world  and  the  history  of  the  human  race, 
than  many  of  the  untold  millions  of  the  past.  Her 
life  was  consistent,  pleasant  and  useful,  and  Time 
presented  to  her  his  most  wonderful  panorama  of 
change  and  achievements.  Reared  amidst  the  ruins 
of  two  races,  it  was  her  privilege  to  witness  the 
grandest  triumphs  of  the  third,  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
such  as  the  birth  of  all  the  great  American  indus- 
tries, and  the  development  of  one  of  the  wonderful 
modes  of  modern  travel,  also  not  only  the  invention 
of,  but  also  the  adoption  and  growth  of  the  tele- 
graph, telephone  and  phonograph,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  electricity  for  light,  heat  and  power.  When 
her  eyes  first  saw  the  light  of  day  there  was  not 
an  iron  ploughshare  in  the  whole  world,  nor  was 
there  a  steamboat,  steamship,  locomotive  nor  rail- 
way train;  telegraphing  and  telephoning  were  un- 
known ;  most  of  the  inventions  in  machinery  and 
nearly  all  the  appliances  for  comfort  and  conveni- 
ence were  also  unknown.  The  improvements  in 
agriculture,  mining,  manufacturing,  etc.,  were  all 
made  during  the  span  of  her  life.  What  a  privilege 
and  yet  what  a  responsibility  to  be  permitted  to 
live  so  long  and  witness  so  much.  Like  her  sainted 
mother  and  her  ancestoi'^  named,  she  was  entombed 

49 


and  over  her  grave  was  written  the  chilling  word, 
"  died."  Alongside  this,  however,  thanks  be  to 
God,  were  written  the  more  cheering  words,  "  to 
be  resurrected."  In  the  fullness  of  years  she  has 
passed  to  her  reward,  but  has  left  us  the  precious 
privilege  of  recalling  and  talking  over  the  beautiful 
story  of  her  long  life.  Sweet  as  are  the  memories 
of  her  long,  useful  and  never  to  be  forgotten  life, 
yet  the  scythe  of  time  came  to  gather  the  ripened 
sheaf  into  the  garner.  Around  the  scenes  of  her 
infant  childhood  and  girlhood  days,  death,  in  seem- 
ing reluctance,  came  and  whitened  the  ruddy  cheek, 
stilled  the  melodious  tongue,  dimmed  the  sparkling 
eye,  and  hung  a  pale  flag  over  the  citadel  of  her 
priceless  heart.  And  yet  how  comforting  it  is  to 
feel  and  know  that  that  same  cold  messenger  in- 
stantly and  unhesitatingly  held  forth  in  his  hand  a 
parchment  signed  by  Him  who  knows  that  "we  are 
but  dust,"  and  "Who  doeth  all  things  well,"  and 
whilst  sadly  reading  the  stern  mandate,  pointed  to 
a  better  life,  "  a  house  of  many  mansions,"  into 
whose  sacred  portals  he  can  never  enter.  How 
beautiful  and  lovely  it  is  to  feel  that  in  addition  to 
having  been  a  friend  to  all  the  living,  she  was  also 
even  a  friend  to  the  king  of  terrors  himself.  The 
interment  of  her  remains  took  place  in  Grace  church 
burying  ground,  Menallen  township,  on  Saturday 
afternoon,  January   7th,   1893,  from   whose   com- 

50 


BURIAL    PLACE, 


manding  site  can  be  seen,  not  very  far  distant  to 
the  eastward,  the  beautiful  mountains  over  which, 
in  her  infancy,  she  came,  and  at  the  foot  of  which 
she  lived  her  earliest  and  latest  years,  and  also  from 
where  she  was  beckoned  by  the  Redeemer,  home- 
ward, whither  she  frequently  in  angelic  tones  said 
she  wanted  to  go. 

Her  funeral  services  were  conducted  by  the 
Rector  of  St.  Peter's  Episcopal  church,  Uniontown, 
and  the  Rector  of  Christ's  church,  Brownsville. 
Notwithstanding  the  excessive  coldness  of  the 
weather,  large  numbers  of  her  old  Uniontown 
friends  and  many  others  from  the  surrounding 
country  assembled  to  witness  the  interment  of  her 
remains  at  Grace  church,  and  were  touched  by  the 
beautiful  and  solemn  service,  and  by  the  rendering 
of  the  hymn  "Nearer,  My  God,  to  Thee,"  which  was 
sung  by  the  choir  during  the  interment.  After  her 
death,  letters  of  condolence  and  tributes  of  respect 
to  her  Christian  life  and  character  were  received 
by  her  children  from  many  different  parts  of  this 
and  other  States. 

Those  who  would  be  like  her  must  learn  to  fol- 
low in  the  footsteps  of  the  Savior. 


52 


COL.    T.    B.    8EARIGHT. 


THEIJ^   CHlLtD^EH 


n^o  William  and  Rachel  (Brownfield)  Seariglit 
(afterwards  Stidger),  the  subjects  of  these 
memorials,  were  born  six  children,  four  sons  and 
two  daughters:  Col.  Thomas  B.,  Ewing  B.,  Mrs. 
Jean  Shuman,  Capt.  William,  James  A.,  and  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Colvin. 

COL.   THOMAS   BROWNFIELD   SEARK^HT. 

The  oldest  in  active  practice  of  the  lawyers  at 
the  Uniontown  bar,  is  Col.  Thomas  Browniield  Sea- 
right,  who  was  born  on  the  National  road,  in  Men- 
allen  township,  Fayette  county,  Pennsylvania,  Feb- 
ruary 20,  1827.  He  attended  Washington  and  Jef- 
ferson college  with  James  G.  Blaine,  and  was  grad- 
uated from  that  well-known  institution  of  learning 
in  the  class  of  1848,  one  year  later  than  Blaine, 
who  was  one  of  his  warm  and  intimate  friends. 
He  read  law  with  James  Yeech,  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1850,  and  has  been  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  ever  since.  He  was  editor  of 
the  Genius  of  Liberty  from  1851  to  1861,  and  was 
elected  as  prothonotary  in  1857,  in  1860,  in  1881 


EWING    B.    SEARIGHT. 


and  in  1884,  thus  far  being  the  only  man  in  the 
county  who  has  ever  served  four  terms  in  that  of- 
fice. Colonel  Searight  was  elected  to  the  legisla- 
ture in  1862  and  again  in  1864,  served  in  the  State 
senate  from  1866  to  1868,  and  in  1873,  without 
solicitation  upon  his  part,  was  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent Grant  as  surveyor-general  of  Colorado,  which 
position  he  held  for  three  years.  He  received  the 
nomination  for  president  judge  in  1883,  in  the 
Fourteenth  Judicial  district  of  Pennsylvania,  but 
dissension  that  year  in  the  Democratic  party  pre- 
vented his  election.  Colonel  Searight  is  a  Jeft'er- 
sonian  Democrat.  On  Ot'tober  29, 1857,  he  married 
Rose  Flenniken,  only  daughter  of  Hon.  Robert  P. 
Flenniken,  minister  to  Denmark  under  President 
Polk.  Mr.  Searight  wrote  a  series  of  able  and 
logical  letters  on  "  State  Rights,"  and  his  forth- 
coming book,  "The  Old  Pike,"  is  pronounced  by 
those  competent  to  judge,  a  work  of  great  value 
and  of  National  interest. 

EAVIXG  BROWNFIELD  .SEARIGHT. 

One  of  the  most  popular  and  efficient  superin- 
tendents of  the  National  Road,  or  "  Old  Pike,"  is 
Ewing  Brownfield  Searight,  who  is  the  second  son 
of  William  and  Rachel  (Brownfield)  Searight,  and 
was  born  at  the  village  of  Searights,  in  Menallen 


JEAN    (SEARIGHT)    SHUMAN. 


township,  Fayette  county,  Pennsylvania,  September 
5, 1828.  He  received  a  good  practical  English  edu- 
cation, and  then  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits, 
which  he  has  followed  successfully  ever  since.  Mr. 
Searight  is  a  man  of  standing  in  his  community, 
and  on  February  3,  1859,  married  Elizabeth  Jack- 
son, only  daughter  of  Zadoc  Jackson.  He  is  a 
democrat,  an  Episcopalian,  has  served  as  a  town- 
ship and  county  official,  and  was  superintendent  of 
the  National  Pike  in  Fayette  county,  by  appoint- 
ment of  Governor  Pattison,  for  two  years,  during 
which  term  he  rendered  the  best  of  satisfaction. 

jp:ax  (seakKtHT)  shuman. 

The  third  child  and  eldest  daughter  of  William 
and  Rachel  (Brownfield)  Searight,  is  Jean  (Searight) 
Shuman,  who  was  born  in  Menallen  township, 
Fayette  county,  Pennsylvania,  September  17,  1832. 
Slie  received  her  education  at  Washington  Female 
seminary,  then  under  the  charge  of  Mrs.  Sarah  K. 
(Foster)  Hanna,  who  was  a  well-known  teacher  and 
a  prominent  member  of  the  Seceder  church,  of  west- 
ern Pennsylvania.  On  April  25,  1849,  she  married 
Capt.  Thomas  Shuman,  of  Brownsville,  wlio  died 
February  11,  1878.  Some  fifteen  years  after  her 
husband's  death  Mrs.  Shuman  removed  to  Union- 
town,  where  she  has  resided  ever  since. 


CAPT.    WILLIAM    SEARIGHT. 


CAPT.  WILIJAM    SKAKKUIT. 

One  of  the  best  local  newspaper  editors  that 
Pennsylvania  ever  produced  was  Capt.  William 
Searight,  who  had  served  bravely  in  the  late  civil 
war,  and  was  popular  wherever  he  was  known,  on 
account  of  genial  nature  and  generous  impulses. 
He  was  the  third  son  of  William  and  Rachel 
(Browniield)  Searight,  and  was  born  at  Searights, 
in  Menallen  township,  Fayette  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, July  28,  1835.  He  received  his  education 
in  Dunlap's  Creek  academy,  and  Washington  and 
Madison  colleges,  and  after  serving  for  some  time 
as  a  clerk,  in  1853  was  appointed  as  a  cadet  to 
West  Point  Military  academy,  from  which  he  re- 
signed one  year  later.  He  then  took  a  thorough 
commercial  course,  was  in  clerical  employ  under 
Governor  Black,  of  ^N'ebraska,  and  then  became  a 
clerk  under  his  brother  in  the  prothonotary's  office 
at  Uniontown.  The  late  civil  war  came,  and  he 
left  his  clerkship  and  comfortable  home,  to  enlist 
in  Co.  G,  8th  Pennsylvania  reserves.  Captain  Oli- 
phant.  He  was  made  first  sergeant,  soon  became 
popular,  and  his  W^est  Point  knowledge  made  him 
an  efficient  drill  officer.  Upon  Captain  Oliphant's 
promotion,  he  was  elected  captain  over  several  of 
the  company  officers  who  were  his  seniors  in  rank. 
Sickness  compelled  him  to  resign,  but  after  return- 


ELIZABETH     i  SEARlGHT  i    COLVIN. 


\ 


ing  home  and  recruiting  his  healtli,  lie  enlisted 
again,  as  a  private  soldier,  in  the  88th  Pennsyl- 
vania regiment,  and  served  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  Under  President  Johnson's  administration 
he  served  efficiently  as  a  departmental  clerk  at 
Washington  city,  and  in  1869  became  local  editor 
of  the  Genius  of  Liberty.  In  his  new  sphere  of 
labor  he  became  phenominally  successful,  and  made 
the  Genius  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  popular  local 
newspapers  of  the  State.  From  that  time  on,  until 
his  death  in  1881,  Capt.  William  (familiarly  known 
as  "  B  ")  Searight  did  splendid  local  work  on  the 
Genius,  Standard  and  Democrat  at  Uniontown,  and 
was  a  valued  correspondent  of  several  Pittsburg 
dailies.  He  passed  away  July  31, 1881 ;  his  remains 
were  interred  at  Grace  church,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  but  his  mem- 
ory will  long  survive  in  many  loving  hearts,  on 
account  of  his  many  generous  and  noble  qualities. 


ELIZABETH  (SEARIGHT)  COLYIX, 


The  youngest  child  of  William  and  Rachel 
(Brownfieid)  Searight  is  Elizabeth  (Searight)  Col- 
vin,  who  was  born  at  Searights,  in  Menallen  town- 
ship, Fayette  county,  Pennsylvania,  February  17, 
1839.  She  received  her  education  at  Washington 
Female  seminary,  then  under  charge  of  Mrs.  Sarah 


JAMES    A.    8EARIGHT. 


R.  (Foster)  Hanna,  a  Scotch-Irish  teacher  of  ability 
and  reputation.  On  February  7,  1859,  she  married 
Joseph  T.  Colvin,  who  is  now  President  of  the 
Pittsburg  JSTational  Bank  of  Commerce.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Colvin  have  resided  ever  since  their  marriage 
in  Pittsburg. 

JAMES   ALLISON   SEA  RIGHT. 

James  Allison  Searight,  President  of  the  Peo- 
ples Bank  of  Fayette  County,  and  the  first  mem- 
ber of  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress  of  America, 
from  Southwestern  Pennsylvania,  is  the  young- 
est son  of  William  and  Rachel  (Brownfield)  Sea- 
right,  and  was  born  on  the  old  Searight  home- 
stead, in  Menallen  township,  Fayette  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, September  13,  1836.  He  received  his 
academic  education  atDunlap's  Creek  Presbyterian 
academy,  and  after  spending  some  time  at  the  Iron 
City  Business  college  of  Pittsburg,  he  entered 
Kenyon  college.  Gambler,  Ohio,  where  he  was  a 
classmate  of  E.  L.  Stanton,  son  of  the  great  war 
secretary,  Edwin  M.  Stanton.  Mr.  Searight  was 
graduated  from  Kenyon  college  in  1863,  and  two 
years  later  entered  the  Philadelphia  Divinity 
school,  which  ill  health  compelled  him  to  leave  in 
a  short  time.  He  passed  two  years  in  Washington 
city,  and  in  1871  established  himself  at  Union- 
town,  this  State,  in  his  present  insurance  and  real 


estate  office.  Mr.  Searight  is  a  member  of  St. 
Peter's  Protestant  Episcopal  church,  has  been 
very  active  in  the  aftairs  of  the  church,  and  has 
served  repeatedly  in  diocesan  councils  and  con- 
ventions. He  helped,  in  1873,  to  organize  the 
Peoples  Bank  of  Fayette  County,  of  which  he  was 
elected  the  first  cashier,  and  of  which  he  has  served 
as  President  since  1889.  Mr.  Searight  has  spent 
considerable  time  and  been  at  some  expense  in  se- 
curing data  for  an  accurate  account  in  which  to 
preserve  for  all  time  to  come  the  memory  of  his 
family  and  ancestry. 


66 


U.  ti\iV\.VT<>y<  V  to..  ?*\\VA1?>S.  ^\tV.VKQXk^.  \>k^. 


'ik 


^.^v 


"•PTURN     r 


Loot  her* — 


r-ssriiitH*' 


^r-// 


.::^ 


^.... 

s 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

1 

